58,000 new expats entered the workforce in Kuwait in 2018
Ban on non-degree holders over 60 mulled • Iqama sticker to be scrapped
KUWAIT: Recent statistics issued by government bodies showed the total workforce in Kuwait till the end of last year increased by 66,000, including 8,562 citizens, 11,394 new domestic helpers and 47,000 expats working for the private sector. Statistics showed an upsurge in the number of expats working for private sector companies during the period of June to Dec 2018, and a drop of 987 in their number in government bodies.
Statistics also showed that the total number of expats working in Kuwait is 2.38 million, with 68 percent of them working in the private sector, 648,000 as domestic helpers and 123,000 in the public sector. In addition, statistics showed a rise in the number of citizens working for government bodies - an increase of 7,867 versus an increase of 695 Kuwaitis in the private sector.
Meanwhile, the manpower authority is working on issuing a resolution banning the renewal of residency visas for expats holding pre-university or no degrees after the age of 60. In this regard, informed sources said some of the authority’s board members are for the proposal and believe that there is no use in keeping such expats in the country, while others are against it for humanitarian reasons, taking into account the decades they have spent in the country and their need to work.
The sources said that a new package of resolutions will be issued after the national holidays regulating work in the private labor market and government projects. The sources added that the new resolutions will help fight visa traffickers and fake companies that bring expat laborers into the country and abandon them to seek jobs in the local labor market.
Also, as part of ongoing efforts to develop and modernize various interior ministry departments, Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Khaled Al-Jarrah Al-Sabah issued a ministerial resolution cancelling the use of residency stickers on expats’ passports and including all the needed data on their civil IDs instead, said assistant
undersecretary for residency affairs Maj Gen Talal Maarafi. Speaking on the sidelines of the graduation
ceremony of police cadets, Maarafi told Al-Qabas daily said the change will take effect soon after special arrangements with various foreign embassies and airlines in Kuwait. Maarafi added that the new measure, which will include residency visas and departure notifications, will help stop sponsors from holding expats’ passports and put an end to this problem for good. He said the measure will also consume fewer passport pages.